ATLANTA \u2014 Karl-Anthony Towns started the job in Hotlanta, and OG Anunoby finished it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the Knicks fumbled an 18-point lead against the struggling Hawks, Anunoby arrived with the two biggest plays of Saturday evening\u2019s thrilling 128-125 victory \u2014 an and-one go-ahead putback with 30 seconds left and then a steal from Trae Young on the following possession.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the end, Anunoby, who mostly struggled throughout the night, finished with four points, a steal and two rebounds in the final 30 seconds as the Knicks celebrated after Nickeil Alexander-Walker\u2019s potential game-tying trey clanked off the rim at the buzzer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
OG Anunoby steals the ball in the closing seconds of the Knicks\u2019 win over the Hawks on Dec. 27, 2025. AP<\/p>\n
Before that finish, Towns was the hero with 36 points and 16 boards, dominating the small Hawks lineup.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Towns feasted from the foul line, rewarded with whistles for his aggressive and controlled style while connecting on 17-of-18 free throws. Towns also grabbed boards and hit three treys, a performance that became necessary because Jalen Brunson wasn\u2019t at his All-NBA best.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The point guard scored 34 points but took 29 shots, and he also committed a nearly disastrous turnover with under a minute left while getting stripped by Alexander-Walker.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Hawks (15-18) fought back in the fourth quarter but dropped their sixth straight, all without Kristaps Porzingis. The former Knick remains out with an illness after being diagnosed last season with a disorder that causes a rapid heart rate, among other symptoms.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even taking Porzingis\u2019 extended absence out of the equation, Atlanta is a disappointment and has been linked to a potential trade for Dallas\u2019 Anthony Davis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Knicks? They\u2019re still cruising along at 22-9, still the favorites to win the Eastern Conference while winning eight of their past 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Karl-Anthony Towns reacts during the Knicks-Hawks game on Dec. 27, 2025. AP<\/p>\n
They are also navigating injuries and lineup experiments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With Josh Hart and Miles McBride both shelved with ankle sprains Saturday, coach Mike Brown shook up his rotation in a surprising way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rookie Mohamed Diawara started for the second time this season, taking the spot of Hart \u2014 who will also miss at least two more games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kevin McCullar Jr. shoots during the Knicks- Hawks game on Dec. 27, 2025. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
Much more surprising, Brown\u2019s first sub off the bench was two-way contract Kevin McCullar Jr., who entered Saturday with 10 total minutes this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It turned into a smart move from Brown, who watched McCullar go off for six points and six rebounds in the first half. McCullar, whose upside comparison coming out of college was Hart, became a revelation as New York took a 13-point lead into the break.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So the Knicks didn\u2019t have Josh Hart but they got enough from his stunt double.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McCullar, whose NBA career was stalled last season by a lingering knee problem, finished with 13 points in 23 minutes on 4-for-7 shooting with a Hart-like eight rebounds, including four offensive. He even pulled off a Hartsian dive near the bench for a loose ball.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It became a supplemental performance to the all-around play of Towns and the late-game heroics of Anunoby.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 Karl-Anthony Towns started the job in Hotlanta, and OG Anunoby finished it.\u00a0 After the Knicks fumbled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1262,21,9,11,1104,10,6474,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-82380","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-atlanta-hawks","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-knicks","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-og-anunoby","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}